Reed Chen
Reed Wade Chen (January 9, 1995 - August 20, 2090) was an American politician who served as the 52nd President of the United States (2061-2065). Chen is widely credited with deregulating asteroid and lunar mining to increase American access to valuable space-based energy sources. Election of 2060 'Conservative Nomination' With Dan Forest committed to only serving one term, the Progress Party was set to nominate Vice President Owen Wood at the convention in San Juan. Wood's nomination alienated many Progressives who viewed Wood as ambitious and unscrupulous. Conservative party leaders saw the Progressives' choice as an opportunity to win the White House for the first time since 2040 if the right candidate could be found. Among the Conservatives, Loren Paulson was the initial front-runner, having been the party's Vice Presidential nominee in the election of 2048, and widely seen to have been a stronger campaigner than the top ticket nominee, former Secretary of State Healther Stanton. After Paulson declined a nomination, his supporters shifted to several other contenders. Chen was among the leaders in early support, and Shiro T. Wakabiashi of Alaska, George T. Allen of Colorado, and Sarah M. Freeman of North Carolina also had considerable followings. Each of the other candidates had hindrances to their nomination: Wakabiashi had spoken in opposition to the ban on Japanese activity on the Moon; Allen, was reviled on the West Coast for calling for internning recent Japanese immigrants; and while Freeman was generally well liked, she was seen as too old and out of touch with most voters. Chen, too, had detractors, but the nature of his enemies made him still more friends. Chen led on the first ballot, with 1392 votes out of 1820, and won on the second ballot after perennial candidate Andrew Markwalter threw his support behind him. Markwalter would go on to receive the Libertarian and Conservative party's nomination for Vice President in a unity ticket that many believe the straight-laced Chen actually orchestrated to secure the nomination. 'Campaign against Wood' Corruption in politics was the central issue in 2060; indeed, Wood had been involved in several ethics investigations during his tenure at director of the Strategic Resources Administration, while Chen's reputation as an watchdog against corruption proved the Conservatives' strongest asset. Some reform-minded Progressives denounced Wood as corrupt and left him off their ballot in favor of Chen as their second and third choice. These voters were more concerned with ethics than with party, and felt Chen would promote civil service reform and fight for efficiency in government. Presidency 'Reforms' Soon after taking office, Chen was faced with the task of filling all government vacancies that since the Jacobi administration had been increasingly filled under a system of patronage. Chen announced that he would not fire any Progressive doing their job effectively, , and would not appoint anyone solely on the basis of party service. Instead, he commissioned the Office of Management and Budget, under its new director Hugh Weiling, to devise a new automated hiring system for federal employees that would extend to presidential appointees. Weiling had work-shopped such a system as director of the Center for Efficient Governance, and Chen used it to reduce the number of federal employees, as many departments had become bloated with political time-servers. Later in his term, as his fellow Conservatives chafed at being excluded from jobs they'd otherwise be guaranteed, Chen began to replace more of the partisan Progressive officeholders with Conservatives, mainly with policy making positions. While some of his decisions were influenced by party concerns, more of Chen's appointments were decided by merit alone than was the case in his predecessors' administrations. 'Space deregulation' 'Augment Rights Movement' Since the 2058 midterms, the Green and Conservative Parties had adopted a policy to ban the use of augmentations and punish those who sought genetic augmentation with prison time. Chen won his bid for the White House partly for his anti-augmentation rhetoric, and while in office pushed for tighter regulations against genetic augmentation. Chen was celebrated among Conservatives when he cemented an alliance with the Green Party to push for anti-augmentation legislation, effectively breaking the progressive coalition that elected every Progressive since Dylan J. Price. In January 2062, Price signed the Falana Act into law, banning human augmentation for "recreational," uses. Chen was reviled by Student groups, and many libertarians would turn against him and the Conservatives in the 2062 midterms. 'Recession of 2063' 'Election of 2064' The Progressives nominated Carla Anderson of Illinois for President and Lise Duchesne of New Mexico for Vice President in the first Progressive-Liberal ticket in modern politics. Chen was easily renominated at the Conservative convention in San Jose with Andrew Markwalter staying on despite defections from the Libertarian coalition in opposition to the Chen administration's opposition to a person's right to genetic augmentation. The Progressives gained the upper hand in the campaign, as Chen's popularity slipped with Recession and the youth came out in droves to support Anderson. The Progressives campaigned heavily on the Augment issue, turning out liberal voters in the important coastal states of the Southwest. A massive student march against Chen in New York cost Conservatives a majority in the state for the first time since Jacobi's landslide victory in 2052. The defection of civil libertarians in coastal cities ultimately cost Chen victory in 2064. Category:Presidents of the United States